Putin will not attend Prigozhin’s funeral – Kremlin

AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed when his airplane crashed final week, the Kremlin mentioned on Tuesday.

The non-public Embraer Legacy 600 non-public jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed within the Tver area north of Moscow on August 23 with the lack of all 10 folks on board, together with two different high leaders of Wagner and 4 males reported to be Prigozhin’s bodyguards.

It remains to be unclear what prompted the airplane to crash however villagers close to the crash scene informed Reuters they heard a bang after which noticed the jet plummet to the bottom.

When requested if Putin would attend the funeral of Prigozhin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed reporters: “The presence of the president is not envisaged.”

Peskov mentioned the Kremlin didn’t have any particular details about the funeral plans, and the preparations have been as much as family members.

The day after the crash, Putin despatched his condolences to the households of these killed and mentioned he had identified Prigozhin for a really very long time, because the chaotic years of the early Nineties.

“He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life,” Putin mentioned, whereas describing him as a proficient businessman.

The crash got here two months to the day after Prigozhin and his mercenaries staged a mutiny towards Putin’s high army commanders during which they took management of the southern metropolis of Rostov and superior in the direction of Moscow earlier than turning again 200 km from the capital.

The mutiny posed the largest problem to Putin’s rule since he took energy on the final day of 1999. The Kremlin has rejected as an “absolute lie” the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators – for which they haven’t supplied proof – that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge.

US President Joe Biden mentioned final week he was not shocked by the loss of life and that not a lot occurred in Russia that Putin was not behind.

Investigators mentioned on Sunday that genetic assessments had confirmed that Prigozhin was among the many 10 folks killed within the crash. Also on board was Dmitry Utkin, the co-founder of Wagner and the group’s high army commander, and Valery Chekalov, the pinnacle of Wagner logistics.

Russia’s Fontanka media reported on Tuesday that associates of Chekalov had gathered on the Severnoye cemetery in St Petersburg for his funeral.